By Today Newspaper
GREAT BAY – Joceidi Martin G. walked into the courthouse yesterday morning accused of attempted manslaughter but the 18-year old left a free man after the court dropped all charges against him, based on self-defense.
On November 9 of last year, the young defendant, who showed up sharply dressed and well groomed, received a call from his little brother at the St. Maarten Academy with the request to pick him up because there was a group of boys waiting outside the school grounds to pick a fight with him.
came to the rescue and on the way to the school he picked up his elder brother. “It was three of us against six or seven of them,” he told the court. The defendant’s objective was to get his little brother out of trouble. One of the assailants was taking hits from his brother and then dropped a knife to the ground. G. picked it up and started waving it around. “In an attempt to keep them at bay,” he told the court.
Ironically, the knife tore into the flesh of the assailant who had brought it to the party – and that led to the charge of attempted manslaughter, or, if that would not hold up, ill-treatment with a weapon.
Prosecutor Martin van Nes noted that the fight was part of a long-running conflict between the brothers and the other group. He established that the defendant had attended anger management training and that he had learned something from it: during what could have become another confrontation, he simple walked away.
“There is sufficient evidence,” the prosecutor said. “The defendant had the knife and injuries have been caused. He was swinging the knife to keep others at a distance. He used the knife to save himself and his brother.”
The prosecutor said that the statements made by the defendant made self-defense “sufficiently plausible. “Therefore I ask the court d to drop all charges.”
Attorney Safira Ibrahim came to the same conclusion. “This is about a long-running conflict. There have been four incidents previous to this one and every time they have filed a complaint. The police did not act on it and then this happened. There was no need for it to get this far.”
Judge Yvonne Vanwersch complimented the defendant for his explanation of the incident. “You did well,” she said, adding that she could imagine the fear he and his brother has experienced. The judge followed the demand of the prosecutor and dropped all charges.
Charges dropped against youngster who came to rescue his brother
